


Unexpected Connection

by What_A_Nerdy_Girl



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Enemies to Lovers, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Richie Tozier, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26826592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/What_A_Nerdy_Girl/pseuds/What_A_Nerdy_Girl
Summary: Eddie loves getting coffee from Rising Sun Cafe, but there is a barista named Richie there that Eddie hates. Although Richie is annoying, could Eddie develop feelings for Richie?(spoiler: Duh, yes of course he does)
Relationships: Bill Denbrough/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Kudos: 41





	Unexpected Connection

The line in front of Eddie was slowly becoming smaller and he was finally getting close to the barista of the coffee shop. Normally Eddie would be irritated while waiting to order his much needed coffee, but today was different. Instead of scrolling through Instagram for two to three minutes, he was talking to his best friend Bev on his phone. It was way more interesting to hear Bev talk about her current crush Bill Denbrough, then to look at pictures of people pretending to be happy all the time. To be honest, it was kinda miserable to see others smiling and hanging out with their friends all the time because during most days, Eddie sat alone in his apartment and over analyzed the cleanliness of his home. He was trying to not obsess over being clean, but it was hard since he grew up with a mother that hard wired into his brain that a speck of dirt would mean that he would get the flu. This call with Bev in the coffee shop during nine in the morning was a nice break from thinking about things like that. 

“So, are you going to ask him out?” Eddie asked. 

“Well, of course I am! You know, how shy Bill is. I just hope that I’m not going to embarrass myself…” Bev trailed off, drifting into her other thoughts of worry. 

“You’re not going to! It’s so obvious that he likes you!” Eddie replied, smiling at Bev’s inability to realize that it wasn’t crazy for a guy to like her. She was beautiful. Her auburn red hair was bright and extraordinarily distinctive. Her light blue eyes were kind and understanding. If Eddie wasn’t gay, he would probaly have a crush on her, but he was gay, so there was no chance that he would ever develop any romantic feelings for her. 

“You really think so?” Bev asked, her voice slightly louder now. 

“Yeah, totally! Bev, he wrote you a poem! ‘ _ Your hair is winter fire…”  _ Eddie replied, mocking her about the poem that always makes her blush when it’s brought up. 

“Ugh, shut up!” Bev countered, laughing at how love-struck and jittery she felt about Bill whenever she thought about the poem that he gave her. Eddie laughed along because Eddie always found it funny how easily her romantic feelings can make her so nervous, which is definitely not the cigarette-smoking, cool headed girl he met in middle school. The person in front of him in the coffee shop finished ordering their drink and then it was finally Eddie’s turn to order. 

“Uh… Bev I’ve gotta hang up now. Bye, see you later!” Eddie said, pressing the red button on his screen and putting his phone in one of his front jean pockets. 

Eddie came closer to the barista, who unfortunately was Richie  **again** . Every single day, Eddie always got his coffee at Rising Sun Cafe because their coffee is amazing, but the only downside to going to that cafe everyday is that Eddie would have to deal with the most annoying person ever (a.k.a Richie). 

“Hey, what’s up handsome?” Richie asked, grinning when Eddie scowled at him back. 

“Please don’t call me that.” Eddie replied sternly, hoping that his obvious irritation would make Richie shut up for once. 

“Well, yesterday you told me to stop calling you Eds, so I had to think of a new nickname for you.” Richie answered, visibly holding back a laugh. 

“You really think that you’re funny… well you’re not, just so you know.” Eddie said bitterly. After having to deal with the dumb things that Richie says for about a year now, he really didn’t feel like being nice. 

“I’m not trying to be. You’re the comedian! That pissed uptight look you always give me always cracks me up.” Richie retorted, laughing at Eddie’s raised eyebrow and small eye roll in response. 

Eddie clenched his hands into fists and sighed, relaxing his hands to attempt to calm himself. 

“I am not uptight!” Eddie said, clearly unclenching his hands did nothing to calm himself down. Eddie knew that on some level he could be strict sometimes, but he wouldn’t say that he was uptight. Even if he was, he would never admit that to Richie because then Richie would actually be right about something for once. 

“Sure, you’re not.” Richie responded.

“Ugh, can I order now?” Eddie asked, rolling his eyes for the second time during this interaction. 

“Remember when you first came into the coffee shop and you kept on asking how much dust was on our cups?” Richie asked, completely ignoring Eddie’s question. 

“Yes, I do remember that and do you remember that you promised to never bring that up again?” Eddie replied, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows. 

“You know, you don’t have to be embarrassed about that… I didn’t mind… uh… talking with you… um… on that day…” Richie said, stumbling with his words, which was really unusual because Richie always seemed to know how to keep on talking. Richie looked off to the side, trying to avoid eye contact. 

Eddie smiled to himself; it was endearing to see Richie look so nervous and awkward. Eddie’s stomach began to feel fluttery and his shoulder relaxed. Eddie usually avoided ever thinking about Richie, but he did have to admit that Richie was attractive. Richie was very tall. Since Eddie is considered short, he thought that a lot of people were tall, but Richie seemed incredibly tall. He wondered what it would be like if Richie’s large hands held onto his waist or even just held his hands… 

“Oh, fuck… I need to stop thinking about Richie… he’s annoying, not attractive. He’s annoying, not attractive. Annoying, not attractive…” Eddie continuously thought to himself as Richie kept on avoiding eye contact with him. 

Richie stopped looking away from Eddie and saw that Eddie was smiling. 

“Wait… are you smiling?” Richie asked, looking annoyingly happy. 

Eddie snapped out of his thoughts and his eyes widened in surprise, not realizing how deep into his thoughts he was. 

“No! Of course not!” Eddie said, stopping himself from forming his hands into fists again. 

Richie was grinning again and Eddie felt so confused… how could he ever feel cheerful around Richie, the barista who annoys him non-stop when he goes to his favorite coffee shop?

“Hey, can you love birds stop flirting, so the rest of us can get our caffeine?” a middle-aged woman said behind Eddie. 

Eddie’s face immediately became red of embarrassment. He almost completely forgot about the line behind him… it was just so easy to forget about his surroundings when he was Richie. 

“Okay… fine. What’s your order? Let me guess, a latte with almond milk.” Richie said, grabbing a paper cup and writing the order on it. 

“Yeah… that’s what I wanted…” Eddie couldn’t say anymore because he felt so pathetic. First he actually thought Richie was attractive. Second of all, people thought he and Richie were flirting with each other, which totally wasn’t true. Richie was just being annoying and Eddie was reacting to it because he had no choice. 

Finally Eddie’s drink was being made and Eddie decided to sit at one of the coffee tables while he waited. For some reason Richie kept on glancing at him, while he was taking orders. Eddie rolled his eyes because Richie really should be focusing on his job. Why was Richie looking at him so much? 

“Eds!” a different barista with light brown curly hair yelled. 

Eddie sighed and got up to get his coffee. 

Of course Richie put down his name as that. 

**

Eddie walked into his first college class of the day, English Literature which he had with Bev. He glanced at the large classroom and saw Bev in the very back of the class with her backpack on the seat next to her to save the seat for him. Eddie quickly ran up the flight of stairs to get to Bev and wished that she wouldn’t always choose seats in the very back of the classroom. It was tiring for Eddie to run up those steps because there were many flights of steps to get the seats that Bev saved for them. Eventually, Eddie got to Bev and she looked up from the book that she was reading. 

“So, What took you so long?” Bev said, smiling and lifting up her backpack as Eddie sat down on the chair next to her. 

“That dumb barista wouldn’t take my order and some stranger behind us had to pressure him to finally take my order! It’s unbelievable! I really love that coffee shop, but I can’t stand that barista!” Eddie complained. 

“Are you talking about Richie again?” Bev asked. 

“You’re saying that like I want to talk about him. I don’t even want to be near him!” Eddie said, moving his hands frantically while he spoke. 

Bev laughed and gave him a knowing look with one of her eyebrows raised. 

“Well anyways, do you want to hear how it went with me and Bill?” Bev asked, her eyes sparkling in excitement. 

“You asked him out?” Eddie asked, smiling that Bev didn’t back out of asking Bill out. 

“Yes…” Bev replied, but couldn’t say any more because their teacher Mr. Francis walked into the room. 

“Hello, class!” Mr. Francis said loudly, wanting everyone to hear him. “Today we’re going to be talking about Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. You all should have done the reading, so you all should be ready for our class discussion today.” 

Students began to start the discussion and Eddie was planning on joining in at some point, but he wanted to talk to Bev first. It was rude to have a conversation with a friend during class, but Bev was probably going to whisper to him anyways, so he might as well get the tea from her.

“He said yes!” Bev whispered with a big smile. 

“I told you that he liked you! Of course, he said yes!” he whispered back. “We should probably stop talking during class now.” 

“Okay, fine.” Bev said quietly, knowing that there was no way to get Eddie to talk during the whole class. 

**

“I’m so glad that class is not any more than three hours. I don’t know how much longer I could listen to people talk about such a depressing book.” Bev said as Eddie walked out of class with her. “I mean, obviously it’s important to talk about topics that are sad, like we shouldn’t avoid them, but ugh, I really just wanted the class to end. Anyways, do you want to go to Rising Sun? I am dying for some coffee and I know you had some this morning, but what’s wrong with having more coffee?” 

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with having more coffee. Yeah, let’s go. I don’t have another class until three anyway.” Eddie responded.

They continued to walk through the hallways. It almost felt like high school, but it felt so much better to walk through the hallways of the college campus. There were no irritating loud bells and Eddie overall just felt more confident in college. It was great to have his childhood best friend Bev there with him. If Eddie ever felt scared, self-conscious, or alone he knew that he could rely on her. Eddie knew that a lot of people don’t have that and he was extremely lucky to have her still as a friend. College was also better for Eddie because he wasn’t going to the community college in Derry, Maine. He was glad to get away from his overbearing mom and the homophobic people in that town. One of his most prevalent memories of Derry, Maine was when Henry Bowers, an older boy that constantly bullied him, pushed his head into a toilet in the boy’s bathroom and almost drowned him. It was hard to hear exactly what his long time tormentor was saying, but Eddie did hear Henry Bowers say things like, “Fagget” and “Homo piece of shit”. Eddie never came out before or after the incident, but memories like that reminded him why he hid his sexulaity for so long. It felt great to move to California, which was way more accepting of people like him. Obviously homophobia still existed in California, but Eddie highly doubted or at least hoped that he wouldn’t have to deal with another Henry Bowers in California. 

“So, when are you going on a date with Bill?” Eddie asked Bev, who smiled at the question. 

“Tomorrow.” Bev replied, giggling after.

“What are guys going to do?” Eddie asked as they both walked out of the front entrance of the college. 

“We’re going to…” Bev cuts herself off by giggling. “Sorry, uh we’re going to camp out in his backyard. I know it sounds stupid, but I’m really excided.”

Bev’s eyes were wide as she was talking and she kept on looking down as she smiled. 

“It doesn’t sound stupid. It actually sounds really romantic. Camping out alone in a tent together, that sounds amazing for you guys. I’m actually really jealous of you. I don’t think I’m the romantic type, but it would definitely be nice to be with a guy that would want to do stuff like that with me.” Eddie replied. 

“Oh, Eddie! I know you’ll find a great guy! I mean there are probably plenty of them here in California. I thought I wasn’t able to find one and now here I am talking about a date with Bill! One of the sweetest guys I’ve ever met!” Bev gushed, blushing at the thought of the date she was going to have soon. 

“Bev you’re the most genuine and coolest person I’ve ever met, of course you were able to find a guy.” Eddie said.

“And you're not?” Bev asked, tilting her head to the side slightly to make direct eye contact with him.

“Well, I’m definitely not cool.” Eddie responded. 

Bev rolls her eyes and shakes her head disapprovingly as they walk to the Rising Sun Cafe’s front door. 

“What? Come on, Bev. Please, don’t give me that look” Eddie whined. 

Bev ignores his response as she opens the front entrance of the cafe for them. 

“So, what are you going to get?” Eddie asked as they walked in and got in line. The line wasn’t super long this time, which was surprising because usually around one in the afternoon the cafe would be filled with people. The cafe that day did have lots of people there, but for some reason the line was short with only one person in it. 

“I’m thinking of getting a lavender latte… I want to try something new” Bev replied, looking up at the large menu hanging up on the wall in front of them. 

“Well, that’s surprising, I was expecting you to get a americano again.” Eddie said. 

“Guess, I just don’t feel as dead inside today.” Bev retorted, with a smirk. 

They didn’t say much to each other after that because it was quickly their turn to order. This time the barista that took his order was the light brown haired guy that made his coffee this morning. He had an emotionless facial expression that sort of bothered Eddie. He didn’t look like a murderer or anything, but the barista certainly didn’t look welcoming. 

“Hi, I’m Stan. What can I get for you?” the barista asked, almost sounding robotic. 

Eddie turned his head to look around the cafe and felt an instant ache in his chest. He didn’t see Richie anywhere and Eddie could feel his entire body tense up. Why did it feel so wrong to order coffee from someone else? Richie is obviously annoying to Eddie, right? Eddie looks down in confusion because he just doesn’t understand why he feels like his head got hit with a hammer.

“Uh… Eddie, do you still want coffee?” Bev asks, her eyes full of concern. 

“Um… what? Oh! I’m sorry… I’ll have a americano…” Eddie trailed off, not knowing what else to say. He felt so embarrassed that he wasn’t paying attention. Bev ordered already… When did she order? How long was he spacing out? 

“Ugh, I’m such an idiot.” Eddie thought to himself as he sighed externally.

“Okay, so one lavender latte with oat milk and one americano? Got it.” Stan stated, writing the orders down. “So, should I put down the names for drinks under  _ Eds _ ?” the barista continued, smirking at Eddie. 

Eddie blushed at the nickname and looked down in embarrassment. 

“Oh, no… please don’t. I hate that nick-” 

Bev laughed and said, “Put the drinks under my name, Bev.” 

“Richie won’t like that.” Stan said, chucking after, thinking about the complaining he’s going to have to hear from Richie when he finds out that he wasn’t there to force his nickname onto Eddie for the thousandth time. 

“Well, Richie can suck my dick. I fucking hate that nicname.” Eddie retroted, crossing his arms. 

Bev gave him her classic knowing look and was obviously holding back laughter. 

“Of course, you want him to suck your dick.” Bev joked, smiling at Eddie. 

“Shut up! I didn't mean it like that!” Eddie blurted. 

Bev shrugged, Stan grinned, and Eddie walked angery away to one of the free coffee tables. 

“He likes Richie, right?” Stan whispered, not wanting Eddie to hear a question that would probably piss him off even more. 

Bev pursed her lips together, debating internally whether she should say anything or not. Eddie would hate her if she told a stranger that he likes Richie, but it’s so obvious that it doesn’t seem like a big deal to just say it aloud. 

“I’ll take that as a yes. Don’t worry I won’t tell Richie. There’s no way that I would want to boost his already huge ego.” Stan said.

“Well, he’s never said that he likes him…” Bev responded, glancing at Eddie staring at his phone. 

Stan shrugged and turned around to the coffee makers behind him to make the drink orders. Bev walked away to sit next to Eddie. 

“So, what did you guys talk about?” Eddie asked, intensely analyzing Bev to see how she reacted to the question. Bev shrugged and combed her hair with her fingers; she wasn’t fazed by the question at all. 

“Nothing much. He just wanted to go over our order again.” Bev answered. 

“Really?” Eddie asked. 

“Yep.” Bev replied, hoping he wouldn’t question further. 

Two minutes later, Stan calls out Bev’s name and she brings back their coffees. As they drank their hot cups of paradise, Eddie scrolled through Instagram and Bev was texting Bill. At random points, Bev would giggle at something Bill texted and honestly, it was killing Eddie to hear it. He wished he could find someone like Bev was able to. She just looked so happy. Is Bev right? Could he find a guy that loves him? No way, it wasn’t possible in Eddie’s mind. He needed to be a lead in a rom-com to ever find a guy and Eddie definitely wasn’t lead material. He always felt like a side character in his own life. When he lived with his mom, it was all about what she wanted and Eddie never got to really be an individual outside of her. Now, with Bev it’s significantly better. Bev truly cares about him and she certainly doesn't act like he’s made of glass. Although seeing Bev smile as she texts Bill, makes Eddie realize that Bev has something he will never have. Confidence. Everyone has their low points, including Bev, but Bev always managed to bounce back. During her childhood, her dad would physically and mentally abuse her. One time while she was high, she told Eddie that her dad would punch her and call her a “slut” for hours. Now, she’s away from her dad and is flourishing in college. Eddie’s doing great in college too, but socially he hadn’t found any new friends, like she has. She's even been able to find a boyfriend, who was nice and caring. Eddie could never do that; he’s destined to be overly obsessed with the cleanliness of his apartment, alone and forever. 

Bev looks up at Eddie staring at her. She immediately turned off her phone and put it in her purse. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I got a little carried away with Bill. I can’t wait for tomorrow!” Bev said.

“It’s okay. I was just spacing out again…” Eddie responds, sighing.

“Are you still mad at me for the joke I made. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said it.” Bev verbalized. 

“You don’t need to be sorry. I shouldn’t have walked away like that… I was being an asshole. I should be able to take a joke.” Eddie insisted. 

“You weren’t being an asshole!” Bev said, trying to comfort Eddie. Before Eddie can say anything, Bev takes out her phone and sends Eddie a virtual hug gif. Eddie laughs and sends one back. 

“You know that we’re right next to each other, right? We could have just hugged each other in person.” Eddie states, laughing at how ridiculous they can be sometimes. Bevs laughs too, almost spitting out the coffee she was in the middle of drinking. Eddie smiled at Bev’s mishap with her coffee as a bit of the drink fell out of her mouth. Bev wipes the liquid off her face with a napkin and sits up from her chair. She then hugs Eddie tightly and he wraps his arms around her to hug her back. Bev released her hold and said, “Is it that better?”, happily smiling back at him. 

“Yeah, definitely” Eddie responded. 

“Well, I’m going back to my seat because I miss my coffee.” Bev said, dramatically turning her head to regard her latte. 

“It’s less than a foot away from you!” Eddie laughed. 

Thirty minutes later, Eddie and Bev are still at the cafe talking, showing each other memes, and most importantly drinking their caffeine. 

“Ugh, zodiac signs are pseudo psychology! It’s fake!” Eddie insisted and had another sip of his americano. 

“That’s exactly what a Virgo would say!” Bev remarked, pointing at him, like that actually would convince him astrology is real. 

“All astrology is good for is to not accurately guess what your favorite animal is.” Eddie muttered, rolling his eyes at Bev, but still smiling. 

“You’re just proving my point,  _ Virgo _ !” Bev asserted, pointing at him teasingly.

Eddie rolls his eyes again and glaces at his phone. His eyes immediately widened when he saw that the time was 2:25 pm. He was definitely screaming internally now. 

“Is something wrong?” Bev asked, seeing Eddie still holding his phone with a worried facial expression.

“My class is going to start in five minutes…” Eddie groaned. “Shit.”

Before Bev could reply, Eddie ran out of the cafe and headed for the college campus. When he got to the campus, Eddie checked the time again to see that it was 2:30 pm.

“Fuck!” Eddie miffed, realizing that his Political Science class had already started. 

Eddie looked around and saw that there was an elevator. He had never used any of the school elevators before because he always was anxious about the safety of them. This fear came from his mom constantly telling him to never go in elevators because they would kill him. So, now when Eddie sees an elevator all he can think about is the fact that elevators are full of germs that can lead to becoming sick or worse, death. Although as much as he strongly hates elevators, he knows that it would be better if he went on it because he can’t be any more late to class and walking up a million flights of stairs will probably cause him to be 15 minutes late, rather than 6 or 7 minutes late. Eddie cringed as he thought about standing in an elevator, but it would be worth it to not miss any more of his Political Science class. He moved quickly toward the elevator as he felt an immense disappointment in himself for being late to his class. He stood in front of the elevator and pushed the up button swiftly before he could convince himself to take the stairs. 

Instantly the elevator doors opened and Eddie walked in with his hands clenched up anxiously. He clicked on the button for the third floor. Then, he looked down on his phone and clicked on the Instagram app. He started to scroll and like photos in his feed, too immersed to look up. 

“Hey…” a voice said, making Eddie glance up from his phone. Eddie’s eyebrows raised and his eyes were wide staring at the person in front of him, who just came into the elevator. 

“Richie?” Eddie asked with a surprised tone as he put his phone in his pocket. 

“Well, Eddie Spaghetti we bump into each other again.” Richie responded, grinning as the doors of the elevator closed. 

“Don’t call me that!” Eddie whined. “And since when do you go to this school?” 

“Um… since my Freshman year… just like you?” Richie replied, looking at the elevator doors awkwardly. 

“Oh… I didn’t know that…” Eddie said, immediately feeling bad for not knowing that. Eddie has been getting coffee from Richie since he started going to college and he didn’t even know that Richie went to the same college as him. It’s been about a year now, shouldn’t he know that about Richie already? Eddie sighs, guilt washed over him; he didn’t know why, but he just did. Richie looked sad with his slumped shoulders and his eyes staring down at the floor. 

Before Eddie could say anything else to Richie, the elevator shook aggressively. Eddie couldn’t keep his balance and fell right into Richie's large, surprisingly muscular arms. Richie caught Eddie and kept his balance by putting most of his weight against the wall he was standing near. The elevator stopped shaking, but Eddie didn’t push Richie away. Richie’s arms were still wrapped around Eddie and now Eddie was trembling. Eddie was trying to hold back his tears; he was so frightened. He was going to die a terrible death in an elevator, just like his mother always said we would (keep in mind though, that his mother said Eddie would die in a lot of different ways). Eddie couldn’t force himself to not cry anymore; his shoulders tensed and then relaxed as he was sobbing in Richie’s arms. 

“Eddie, are you okay?” Richie asked, pulling Eddie closer to him with his arms. 

“I’m… Fine” Eddie replied, barely able to form words as he was still crying. 

Richie couldn’t see Eddie’s face, since his face was buried into his shoulder, but he could definitely hear Eddie crying. Richie looked up and saw that the floor number on the screen had no numbers on it. 

“Eddie… I think we’re stuck in between floors…” Richie said, looking back down at Eddie. Thankfully, Eddie wasn’t crying anymore. Although Richie highly doubted Eddie felt any better, especially with the news he just gave him.

“Of course we fucking are.” Eddie replied, sounding muffled against Richie’s shoulder.

“Everything is going to be fi-”

“We’re going to die in this elevator” Eddie interrupted, completely ignoring Richie’s attempt to comfort him. Eddie finally lifts his head up and sees Richie’s shocked face. 

“What? It’s true!” Eddie retorted.

“Eddie we’re going to be fine. Someone will get us out of here… in the meantime, you get to be in the presence of the hottest guy ever.” Richie stated, grinning at Eddie’s immediate response to roll his eyes. Eddie moved his head to look around the elevator. When he is done examining the elevator, he stares back at Richie. 

“I don’t see him anywhere.” Eddie said, smiling because maybe for once he can annoy Richie. 

“Well, I guess it makes sense that you don’t know… my hotness is too complex for your mind to understand.” Richie retorted, still grinning. Eddie scoffed at Richie’s ridiculas response, but for some reason he was still smiling at Richie as he was resting his head on Richie’s shoulder.

“Too complex? Really?” Eddie asked in disbelief. 

“Yep.” Richie replied. 

Eddie focused on Richie’s arms around him and Eddie’s mind went blank. Fuck. Richie’s arms have been holding him this entire time and Eddie has been resting his head on his shoulder! Even worse, Richie saw him cry… Richie must think that he’s pathetic now. Eddie abruptly gets out of Richie’s arms and stands up. Eddie stared at the four walls around him and sighed, not wanting to cry again. Eddie wipes a tear that comes out his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt with his back turned away from Richie.

“Do you know what this shirt is made of?” Richie asked abruptly, lifting up the fabric of his sleeve of his t-shift. Eddie, startled by the question, turns around and stares at Richie. Eddie crosses his arms because he could care less about Richie’s stupid question. 

“Richie, I have better things to do than talk about your shirt. We need to figure out how to get out of this elevator.” Eddie said. Eddie walked to the buttons of the elevator and started to examine them. Maybe they were just stuck in the elevator because the buttons were malfunctioning. If that’s the case, then maybe Eddie can try to press the third floor button and finally get to his Political Science class. 

“It’s boyfriend material.” Richie said, laughing at his pick-up line after. 

Eddie turned his head away from the buttons and moved towards Richie. He looked extremely annoyed as he walked. His brows were furrowed and his hands were clenched. Maybe Richie was going too far with the teasing this time. He did just see Eddie crying a minute ago, but Richie can’t help it. In awkward or sad situations, Richie likes to joke around. 

“Seriously, shut up Richie. We don’t have time for this! I need to get out of this elevator!” Eddie said, staring at him with unwavering direct eye contact, which was impressive because Eddie had to lift up his head to look into Richie’s eyes since Richie was obviously much taller than him. An awkward silence fell between them and Eddie crossed his arms. “What, do you have nothing to say now? Don’t have another joke?” 

“No… you told me to shut up… remember?” Richie responded, breaking his eye contact with Eddie. 

Eddie sighed and walked back to the buttons of the elevator, pushing all the buttons to see if they would work again. Richie smiled at the sight because what Eddie was doing just seemed so childish (and that’s saying something because Richie is the definition of childish). Richie was giggling and Eddie gave him a dirty look. Richie moved to where Eddie was and saw Eddie just staring at the buttons. 

“I probably have a bunch of germs on my hands now…” Eddie stated to himself, looking down at his hands. Richie knew that Eddie didn’t like germs since the first time he made coffee for him, but he didn’t realize how bad it was. It Eddie was obsessing over them to the point that he thought that they were going to die in the elevator because of germs. Richie couldn’t ever imagine himself worrying about germs. As a kid, he always did stupid things like play in the dirt with his friends and ride down hills with old pieces of cardboard that his parents forgot about in the basement. 

“We’re not going to die in here.” Richie comforted and Eddie looked up, surprised.“Someone is going to get us out of here.” 

Eddie’s shoulder relaxed and he avoided looking at Richie. Eddie knew that he appeared crazy around people. It’s hard not to worry about dying from a germ when he was basically conditioned to by his mom since childhood. Although, Eddie also knew that he couldn’t blame his mom for everything that he did, including taking out his fear and frustrations out on Richie. 

“I’m sorry.” Eddie blurted out. Eddie’s heart instantly beated faster and his hands started to get sweaty. He was nervous when he was worried about dying, but this nervousness felt different. Before his fears felt like they were confining him in a small invisible box. Now Eddie felt like he was wandering in a stormy unknown environment. Will Richie think he is weird?

“It’s okay… I know that you were just scared and this is probably the worst case scenario for you.” Richie said as he sat down. 

Eddie decided to sit down too because it seemed pointless to keep on standing when Richie was sitting. Although it did feel nice for a moment to seem taller than Richie for once. 

“I think there are worse case scenarios…” Eddie replied. 

“You’re stuck in a small confined space full of germs and me, who you hate.” Richie retorted, fiddling with his hands nervously. 

“I don’t hate you.” Eddie said, scooting closer to Richie. 

“Really?” Richie asked, sounding very shocked. Eddie has always rolled his eyes and seemed to get very annoyed at him. Richie understood why and he assumed that he was probably the worst part of Eddie’s morning. 

“Well I- I mean, I thought you were annoying, but I get annoyed easily with people, not just you.” Eddie replied, leaning his against Richie’s left shoulder.

“Yeah?” Richie asked, blushing at Eddie's sudden physical contact. Before Eddie let Richie hold him because he was scared, but now Eddie was leaning against Richie because he was calm. Eddie was desperate then and now he wanted to be close to Richie because he wanted to. Richie never thought anyone would want that with him and he certainly didn’t expect Eddie to. 

“Yeah.” Eddie confirmed. 

Eddie took out his phone and saw that the time was 2:40; they only have been in the elevator for ten minutes. Ten minutes is a lot of time to be stuck in an elevator, but to Eddie it had felt like they had been stuck in the elevator a lot longer. Eddie also noticed that his phone had no service and rolled his eyes. Of course, his phone had no service. 

“Richie, I don’t think we have service…” Eddie said. 

“That sucks…” Richie answered, taking out his phone to see that he also didn’t have any service. “I guess we’ll just have to distract ourselves until someone comes to get us.” 

“Like what?” Eddie asked, curious to hear what Richie’s answer would be. 

“Let’s just talk.” Richie responded. 

“Okay, sure. What should we talk about?” Eddie asked, really having no idea what they could talk about. Eddie is mainly used to talking to Bev, so it’s hard for him to be in social situations outside of that. Although he has been getting better at socializing. Just last week, he had a conversation with Bill (Bev’s now boyfriend) and Ben (one of Bev’s other friends) and Eddie didn’t completely embarrass himself. 

“I don’t know… What type of music do you like?” Richie asked.

Eddie, still leaning against Richie’s shoulder, looked up at Richie and said, “I don’t listen to music.” 

“You don’t listen to music!” Richie said, gasping at Eddie’s response. 

Eddie laughed at Richie’s shocked response. 

“Well, it’s just music. My life has been fine without it.” Eddie answered, shrugging. 

“You’re missing out!” Richie insisted. 

Eddie gave Richie a doubtful facial expression and chuckled. 

“Sure… ” Eddie said, obviously not taking Richie seriously. 

Richie took out his phone and clicked on the Spotify app. He was smiling as he was typing the song he wanted to play. Eddie giggled at Richie’s excitement. 

“You’ll know how great music is once I play this song!” Richie insisted. 

“Sure… just like how you’re the  _ hottest guy ever _ ” Eddie teased.

“Well, I know you’re being sarcastic, but you just helped my point because I was right about being the  _ hottest guy ever _ .” Richie said, grinning. 

“Keep telling yourself that.” Eddie laughed. 

Eddie and Richie’s eyes locked into each other again and they laughed softly. After a couple of moments, Richie said, “Okay, I’m playing the song! You’ll see that I’m right!” 

Eddie shook his head and laughed again at Richie’s claim. Richie pressed play on the song and put his phone on the floor of the elevator. Richie closed his eyes as the song began. Eddie immediately felt goosebumps as the intro melody of the song started. 

_ We get on almost every night  _

_ When that moon gets big and bright  _

_ It’s a supernatural delight  _

_ Everybody was dancin’ in the moonlight  _

The guitar continued the melody of the song and Eddie was now smiling. He tried to hide it from Richie, but he couldn’t stop showing his obvious emotions. Eddie’s heart felt a hidden firework inside that had finally been ignited. Eddie began humming along with the song and Richie felt happy, smiling and humming with Eddie. Being in the elevator with only Eddie made this moment even more special to Richie because it was just the two of them enjoying the song together. This moment belonged to only them, no one else. 

_ Everybody here is out of sight  _

_ They don’t bark and they don’t bite  _

_ They keep things loose, they keep things light  _

_ Everybody was dancing in the moonlight _

“So, who’s the song by?” Eddie asked, still humming along. 

_ Dancing in the moonlight  _

_ Everybody’s feeling warm and bright  _

“It’s by King Harvest. I don’t really listen to their other songs, but I really love this song. I usually like to listen to this song when I’m feeling stressed.” Richie replied. 

_ It’s such a fine and natural sight  _

_ Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight  _

“Well, I’m glad that you’re playing it… I feel a lot less stressed now.” Eddie said.

During the rest of the song, Richie and Eddie sang along with the rest of the song. Richie wasn’t the best singer and Eddie really couldn’t care less. All that mattered to him that he was having a good time. He didn’t have to worry about seeming like an idiot or being weird because Richie didn’t care about that; he put value on the time he enjoyed with someone and whether they were a good person. Richie definitely was having a good time with Eddie and Eddie was a good person. Sure, when Eddie built walls to keep himself from connecting with others, he does come off as very unfriendly, but now singing with him, Richie knew that Eddie had a kind heart. 

_ Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight  _

_ Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight  _

“So, I guess I was right, music is awesome and I’m the  _ hot _ -” 

Eddie interrupted Richie by kissing him and Richie leaned into the kiss, definitely not wanting to stop. Eddie had never kissed anyone before, is this how a kiss is always supposed to feel? Eddie felt his heart beat faster and his stomach felt tingly. As a kid, Eddie always thought that kissing was weird because he just couldn’t understand why anyone would want to touch someone’s mouth with their own. Now, Eddie definitely understood. The happiness and the excitement Eddie felt was enough to explain to him why people liked kissing so much. With the right person, kissing can be one of the most special things someone can do. Eddie wanted to keep kissing Richie but- 

**Creak!**

The elevator was going down to the first floor and Eddie’s closed eyes widened. Before Eddie or Richie could ask any questions, the elevator doors opened and two repair men were staring at them. 

“How long were you two in the elevator?!” one of the repair men asked, he seemed to be very worried. 

“I don’t know, but not too long I guess.” Richie answered, shrugging. 

“Well, that’s good! We’re still sorry that you two were stuck in there though.” the other repair man replied. 

“It wasn’t your fault and we’re fine now. Thank you for getting us out of there.” Eddie responded, surprisingly calm. If this was any other day, Eddie probably would have been freaking out, yelling, and running to the hospital. 

Richie began to walk away towards the Rising Sun coffee shop and Eddie quickly raced after him. 

“Wait!” Eddie called out. 

“Yeah?” Richie asked, astonished that Eddie wanted to talk to him outside of the elevator. 

Eddie kissed Richie again and it felt just as outstanding as their kiss in the elevator. Eddie knew that he couldn’t avoid or ignore his new feelings for Richie now. So, even though he was nervous, he asked Richie, “Do you want to go on a date with me?” 

“Really? Yeah, I totally would want to, but don’t you have a class you have to go to- I mean, I’m assuming that you were going to a class before-” Richie replied. 

“It doesn’t matter now… I’ve already missed about thirty minutes of class and I’d rather hang out with you anyways…” Eddie interrupted, leaning closer to Richie. 

“Yeah, let's go on a date, then!” Richie rejoiced.

“I think we should go to Rising Sun… I need a third cup of caffeine today.” Eddie responded, laughing as he thought about how out of control his coffee addiction was becoming. 

“Yeah, I’m down for that.” Richie answered, smiling. 

Eddie and Richie began to walk to Rising Sun Cafe and they were happily gazing at each other. Their hands reached out to each other and they were soon holding hands. For once, Eddie felt complete and he hoped that his new connection with Richie never ended. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this, despite the cheesiness lol


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